The present invention relates to wristwatches and similar utilitarian or ornamental articles to be worn around the wrist of the user, and more particularly to a watchband/watchcase connection of such articles.
There are already known various constructions of wristwatch/watchcase connections of the type here under consideration. Many if not most of them utilize so-called spring pintles for connecting the respective end of the watchband, whether the latter is made of leather, plastic, fabric or metal, to lugs of the watchcase which are provided with respective bores for receiving the pin-shaped ends of the pintles. The longitudinally central portion of the respective pintle is then received in a sleeve-shaped formation that is a part of or permanently connected to the watchband. However, experience has shown that the pintles are very difficult to manipulate during the original assembly and subsequently, for instance, when it is desired or necessary to detach the watchband from the watchcase for any reason, such as for repair purposes, and subsequently to again establish the watchband/watchcase connection.
In view of this drawback, and others which have also been observed but which are usually considered to be less prominent, such as the need for providing an access gap for manipulating the pintle, which gap detracts from the unitary look that is desired especially in connection with metallic watchbands, it has also been previously proposed to use different constructions of the watchband/watchcase connection which rely on components other than pintles for establishing the connection between the watchcase and the watchband. So, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,502, there is disclosed a watchband connector which includes a lug rigid with the watchcase and having a channel extending transversely of the lug and opening on the surface of the lug that faces toward the wrist of the user in use and in an assembled condition of the connector, a bridge permanently connected to the end portion of the watchband at a region thereof which also faces the wrist of the user in use and in the assembled condition, and a connecting spring which connects the lug and the bridge with one another. In this construction, the connecting spring is constructed as a leaf spring of a generally bow-shaped configuration having tongues at its two ends which are received in respective apertures of the bridge in the assembled condition, while the arcuate central portion is received in the channel of the lug. To be able to manipulate the spring, the central portion of the latter must be received in the channel with a certain leeway, so that the spring may rattle under certain circumstances, especially when the watch is removed from the wrist and moved. This, of course, is a disadvantage because it is perceived by the prospective purchaser of the watch as a possible defect. Moreover, for taking the wristwatch and the wristband apart, it is necessary to have access to special tools capable of simultaneously engaging and depressing both of the tongues to move the central portion of the spring out of the path of movement of the lug and thus to be able to pull the latter out of the space bounded by the bridge and the associated end portion of the watchband. Without such special tooling, it is virtually impossible to disassemble the watchband and the watchcase. Last but not least, the tongues that extend into the apertures must be received in such apertures with freedom of movement at least toward and away from the watchband, so that discontinuities exist at these regions, in which parts of the garments, lint, and other similar contaminants may become caught, resulting in damage to the garments and in unsightly appearance if not interference with the operation of the connector, and which could even result in abrasions or lacerations of the skin of the user under certain circumstances. Thus, it may be seen that this known construction possesses many drawbacks.
Other constructions of watchband/watchcase connections, which have certain features in common with the present invention but which are deemed to be less relevant than the above-discussed patent, are revealed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,722,040; 3,795,353; 3,889,323; 3,897,612; 3,964,652; and 4,266,326. These constructions suffer of the above discussed drawbacks, either those common to the constructions using pintles in the event that they utilize pintles for mounting the end of the watchband on the watchcase, or disadvantages similar to those discussed above in connection with U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,502 when connecting elements other than pintles are being used to mount the watchband on the watchcase.